More and more people are turning towards this as a desperate straw at weight loss. Whether it works or not has remained controversial till date even though this diet has been there for past 60 years, quite a milestone for a diet that has so many critics.

Let’s take a look at why HCG Diet Drops has soared to fame, whether it deserves the fame or is this just another fad diet.

What are HCG Diet and HCG Drops:

HCG is a normal hormone that human body makes during pregnancy. Could it make you lose weight? Well, that’s the promise HCG Drops makes. The advocators of this diet have credited the hormone for releasing fat from the troubled, stubborn fat sources in the human body which stand as the obstacles to losing weight.

The hormone could be administered through HCG injections and orally through HCG Drops. HCG injections are considered by some people as non-homeopathic hence they resort to a more suitable version, HCG Drops.

HCG Drops give you the option to take HCG orally. These capsules each contain a certain amount of HCG dosage which physicians could prescribe in the course of this diet.

This diet is known to reduce 1 to 2 lbs. of weight per day. The potential of using a natural hormone and turning it into a super fast working weight loss tool is what allures people towards HCG Drops is.

Why Hcg Diet Drops Isn’t Working

There are a fair number of studies on HCG Diet and HCG Drops out there. But mostly any weight loss due to this diet is attributed to the dramatic limitation on calorie intake. In most cases, the calorie intake could be as low as 500 calories per day which is not sufficient to sustain necessary requirements of the body and could create a serious deficiency of nutrients.

And the no fat eating nature of the diet makes it difficult for the body to absorb essential fat-soluble vitamins and minerals. So what are the experts saying? Let’s take a look.

What does FDA say about this?

FDA has long maintained their stance on the matter of HCG diet and HCG drops. And according to them this What does FDA say about this? The weight loss occurring during this diet is attributed to the drastic calorie reduction.

This is why FDA mandated all HCG Diet advertisements to warn users that HCG does not attribute to weight loss, and there is no proof that it causes a more attractive distribution of body fat, or that it decreases hunger or any discomfort relating to hunger pangs otherwise, since the 1970s’ HCG Drops are considered to be the homeopathic version of HCG Diet and have been available on an over the counter or non-prescription way, which is said to cause weight gain and not loss.

Moreover, HCG is a protein body creates and when not administered through blood stream such as in HCG injections will simply be digested by the body as protein. FDA noted this and took action past December where they ordered pulling out of all unapproved HCG supplements off the shelves.This made the HCG Diet industry to resort to HCG free versions of their product. FDA retorted by declaring all non-prescription versions of HCG drugs are fraudulent and ineffective.

As said by David Vladeck, who is the director of FTC’s Bureau of Consumer protection, “Any advertiser who makes health claims about a product is required by federal law to back them up with competent and reliable scientific evidence, so consumers have the accurate information they need to make good decisions.”

The Dr. Oz Show and HCG

HCG Diet particularly gained popularity after appearing on the famous “The Dr. Oz Show,” of the Fox channel. The Doctor himself said more researchers were required to prove the hindering of hunger pangs. According to him, by researching more on HCG we might find an option for the people who don’t have another choice regarding weight loss.

But experts say tend to disagree with the endorsement Dr. Oz has given to the product under the premises of trying it out. Dr. Pieter Cohen of Harvard Medical School stated that the stories surrounding this controversial HCG Drops could be proven even dangerous; it does not make starving safe. It could make the situation worse.

S. Food and Drug Administration

They have also declared HCG as illegal and fraudulent, and banned over the counter availability of this drug. But since HCG drops is also a fertility drug, it could be used if and only if a licensed physician prescribes it.

A study conducted by Dr. ATW Simeons between 2010-2011, which did an analysis of a group of volunteers, showed people who were consuming HCG Drops had no detectable amount of HCG in their bloodstream, which leads to the conclusion that HCG is unable to be absorbed into the bloodstream when administered through HCG Drops.

Another study monitoring patients with EKG and electrolytes measurement saw no major change in cardiac function or blood electrolytes.

In another double-blind placebo study where HCG Diet patients and Placebo patients were all put on the same diet and were being administered a dosage of HCG Drops, lost weight. But the even major news was their body structure and metabolism changed significantly. These results were featured in The Dr. Oz show.

There will be blogs and forums regarding the success stories HCG have provided to thousands of people, but that does not really give it a lot of credibilities.

The weight loss would be mostly due to calorie reduction and while the initial results could be impressive, HCG Diet is simply not sustainable.

Metabolism rate changes are also accredited to the drastic calorie cutting. Mostly everyone will gain the weight back once they go back on the normal diet even if they are not chowing down junk food on a regular basis. People may look this after this diet but there are scopes of doubt about their inner health.

So all of all experts have discredited this diet as a fad diet. Whether it works or not is up to you to decide for yourself, but not without expert supervision.

Hcg Side Effects:

Side effects of HCG Drops are varied, but research shows HCG Drops are easier for your body to accept and has fewer side effects that than injected. Side effects are such as:

Constipation

This is because you eat a lot less when on this diet, which naturally means less fiber so there is less to excrete. People on HCG diet have reported their bowel movements to be 3 to 4 days apart.

This is not considered as true constipation in the sense because this is not difficult to excrete, but less need to relieve one’s elves. That is why people have prescribed fibers with this diet and plenty of water to drink. A mild laxative and plenty of water will solve the problem in no time.

Headache

This usually happens within the first week of starting the diet, you need the HCG Drops for your body to adjust and you may experience headaches. This is one of the most common side effects of any dieting. Any over the counter medicine will solve this problem. This usually happens due to the drastic change in the digestive system. Make sure you stay hydrated during this period to help with the pain.

Dizziness

This is also a fairly common symptom. Our diets have carbohydrates as staples, such as rice, bread, pasta. Carbohydrate is the most easily digestible and first to burn calorie source in the body. When you cut off carbs intake your body has to work to pull energy out of the protein sources which does not digest as easily. So the scarcity of energy causes dizziness. This goes away as our digestive tract gets used to the regime change.

Leg Cramps

This side effect is somewhat rare but not something you need to worry about. This is caused because potassium levels in the body go gown causing muscles to contract. This needs to be cured as fast as possible. Good news is it is as simple as taking a multivitamin that contains potassium. You will get potassium from the multivitamin along with many other necessary nutrients for your body.

Rash

This is the rarest among all side effects on HCG Drops, your body starts burning and consuming fat from the reserved stores and these fat cells also stores toxins which are then released into the blood flow. If this blood flow builds up over time in the bloodstream it results in a rash. This is easily manageable by drinking plenty of water, to begin with. This clears your system of toxins by helping kidneys to flush out the toxin out of your body.

All of these side effects may occur in the minor portion of HCG diet followers, and they could be easily prevented. But other than this if you feel another discomfort that you don’t quite feel is naturally occurring, or if your headache becomes chronic and does not go away even after a week, then you need to contact your physician. This diet is strictly forbidden for nursing mothers, children or anyone who has a persisting medical condition. This is why it is best practice to ask your doctor before starting on this diet.

HCG may be taken by mouth or given as an injection. People have reported discomfort when HCG is administered through injections, which is why HCG Drops are considered a much after choices if one decides to pursue this diet.

Normal dosage for HCG is usually about 125-200 IU daily. Your physician will let you know the dosage prior to starting this diet and you should be following those instructions. If a dosage is missed for some reason, call your physician and seek advice, doubling up of HCG dosages are not advisable even if it is a safe medium as HCG Drops.

So Called “Benefits” of HCG Diets and HCG Drops:

To keep up with the society’s standard for beauty people have been invested in major weight loss trends. HCG Diet provides an oral dosage for the problem through their HCG Drops. The benefits as collected from several people who went on this diet were:

Exercise is not required to get the desired weight loss. This has been a major attraction for people who don’t get enough time to exercise due to their busy schedules or are too lazy to get a gym membership. HCG Diet claims to release stores of fat into the bloodstream from unwanted fat storages in the body. Because the fat is released which is then burned throughout the day to sustain physical calorie needs, this diet makes workout redundant. Though this is a major attraction of this diet, it is questionable of the practice of cutting calories and stopping exercise which is not considered as good practices.

The weight loss occurs extremely fast, you would start to see the result of the diet within days and would continue to lose 10 to 14 lbs. per week if the conditions of the diet are strictly followed. The shortest HCG Diet cycle could last up to days and could elicit 10 to 20 lbs. of weight loss. The longest cycle of HCG drops could last up to 90 days and it could result up to 90 lbs. lost in weight. Results like these are very hard to achieve in other diets. The only liposuction is the closest competitor to HCG diet, but that is both time and money consuming.

This diet comes with an approved food list which contains only of lean proteins, vegetables, and fruits. Even if not to lose weight, this diet could be simply to change food habits. Maintaining a healthy diet containing these foods could help cut your cravings and make you able to sustain healthy food in the long run.

For morbidly obese or people suffering from type 2 diabetes this diet could be proven very helpful. Weight loss has been a major lifesaver by curing a number of illnesses that unhealthy weight could cause. Amongst these are reductions of the effects of type 2 diabetes in people who have been diagnosed, sometimes it can cure the disease altogether.

Procedure to follow in HCG Diet:

Although proven suitable for most people, it is of utmost importance to do a routine test of patient’s vital condition to ensure there are no health conditions that could interfere with the dosage or method of this diet.

Experts suggest thyroid checkup prior to this diet to ensure their metabolism is working at an optimal rate. There are other regulations which should be maintained for good practice which we have mentioned in the phases below, which you are to stick to during this diet.

Phase 1:

Take your temperature first thing in the morning, and then weight yourself in empty stomach to get the most accurate weight records.

Administer your HCG Drops as directed by a physician.

During the first three days on this diet, adding fats and oils in your diet is extremely important.

When you start day 4 on this diet, you need to restrict your calorie intake.

Drink a minimum of filtered water or herbal tea/green tea per day. Add 1 tablespoon of Psyllium fiber in the drinking water 30 minutes prior to drinking, before the 3 meals you are allowed to take. The fiber is important for bowel movements during the diet which will get disrupted by this unusual low-calorie intake.

Breakfast: a piece of fruit, not too high in carbohydrate like the banana. Apple or pears are great choices. Along with this, you are allowed a cup of tea without sugar. After this, you could consume vegetable broth without oil or too much salt.

Lunch: At lunch, you could take 100 grams Or 3.5 oz. lean meat. All fat should be removed from the meat and the cooking should be baked or boiled. Along with this take a handful of raw or boiled vegetables. None of these vegetables should be high in carbohydrates. Avoid starchy vegetables.

Dinner should be before 7:00 pm and the choices are the same as lunch. You could substitute animal protein with vegetable proteins such as beans and lentils.

The 3.5 oz. protein twice a day is mandatory and in no circumstances should you avoid the protein intake.

After administering the last HCG Drops in your HCG Diet phase 1, continue on this same diet for 3 more days. And once you are through with the HCG Diet maintain a comparatively low-calorie intake for around 3 weeks so as not to stress your digestive system of a drastic change.

Phase 2:

This is the stabilization period after the diet, it is highly necessary to regulate the changed metabolism to not gain rebound weight after the diet is complete. If this phase is ignored, you most certainly will gain back all the weight in a few months.

Here is what you do, avoid all high sugar and carbohydrate foods such as white rice, pasta, yam, potatoes, bread etc. you could eat small portions of what is considered as good fats, these are mostly nuts and seeds.

Combine fats and very small amount of carbohydrate if you must, this keeps your blood sugar from spiking. Choosing low glycemic index foods is the best option during this period.

HCG is produced in pregnant women but as a diet this aids people in losing 0.5 to 1 pound of weight per day. It is said, this is the only program which keeps the rebound weight off successfully.

But there is controversy surrounding these claims, most say the moment one if off the diet they tend to gain the complete weight in absolutely no time.

But as with every other diet, there will be a difference in the efficiency of its working.

So this is still a controversy whether this is effective for everyone and is it worth the hassle to go through all the trouble to have no results to show.

For some people, this diet may simply set their metabolism rate to a better position due to the lost weight which in future lets them keep the weight off. Other, more unfortunate people could have their metabolism rate even less once they come out of this diet, which could lead to an, even more, fat gain in the long run.

HCG Drops is said to be working on the hypothalamus by releasing a hormone which signals the body to release the stored fat into the bloodstream.

This alone will not help in reducing weight; the fat in the blood-stream will only be utilized if you cut out your diet intake.

The reason being, when you eat abundantly fat is released into your bloodstream from the food already eaten, on top of this, what is released due to HCG Drops will cause the effect of eating too much, giving body the signal to store back the released fat into muscles, providing absolutely zero benefit from the diet.

HCG releases fat from all problem areas such as thighs, back, upper arms and hips.

What foods are allowed during this period

Unlike other fad diets, HCG diet does not starve you or rip your body off essential nutrients. This is a balanced diet. The portions and combinations are balanced. As Dr. Simeons, a known name in HCG Diet research has stated, the proteins that are allowed are low-grade veal, lean cut beef, boneless and skinless chicken breast (grass-fed variety is preferred), crayfish, shrimp, lobster, white-fleshed fish etc.

Any food that is high in glycemic index is strictly forbidden, most foods that have a high carbohydrate content tend to yield higher glycemic index, foods that are high in glycemic index spikes the blood sugar very fast.

Increase in blood sugar is a signal for your body to start storing the sugar in the blood to muscles and then convert them in fat. This is exactly the opposite of what HCG Diet tries to accomplish. That is why starchy or high carbohydrate foods are to be completely cut off when following this diet.

Why not simply follow a low-calorie diet instead?

According to the advisors for HCG Drops, there are some factors at play here. First of all, we need to understand how fat stores in our body.

Normal Fat: this is the fat body tends to use first when calorie deficit occurs in the body, this kind of fat you could see mostly in the liver.

Structural Fat: the fat that lines up around your vital organs and gives body shape and protects the arteries. This is the kind of fat very essential for the body to retain, yet this fat tends to be used next when the body is required to burn fat for energy.

Solid fat: this is the hardest to burn fats which goes straight to your problem areas. The fat there is basically blocked away. Even exercise and diet proves not enough to remove this fat but this is what we want to lose. HCG Diet targets and releases this kind of fat in the bloodstream.

So without HCG Drops the effort to drastic calorie intake reduction is seen by the body as a starvation and it enters the starvation mode by drastically reducing metabolism and burning the stored essential fats as it goes to survive.

Losing the structural fat has many adverse effects on health that could create some serious health issues; this is why it is not advisable.

Does cutting calories like this imply hunger pangs all day long?

Some researchers have found the volunteers report, they were either not at all hungry during the diet or at least they felt completely in control.

They had the abundance of energy because HCG Drops claims most of the calorie burning comes from the fats stored in problem areas. But there are no proven studies that attribute to loss of hunger or the discomforts of hunger in this period.

What is the policy regarding Exercises?

Exercise is not a mandatory routine in this diet while exercising vigorously could increase the amount of weight loss but it is not substantial and is prohibited by most HCG Diet advocators.

However moderate exercise is advised and especially if you already have a workout routine, abandoning all exercise may even slow down your metabolism rate.

But do stop immediately if you feel you are losing out energy soon and feeling light-headed, gaining the weight back again the very next day, don’t have enough energy to carry out other daily activities.

While HCG Diet makes energy available to be utilized, it is could become scarce as you go, better to save that energy for daily activities instead of burning it all in a single workout session.

So, to summarize the HCG diet plan, the basic rules for this are simple; HCG Drops allows you two meals per day without the use of oils or greasy fat, this will offset the balance of the diet.

Body lotions and hygiene products are also a big no-no as they are said to be interfering with the diet plan because these are basically fats and are absorbed through the skin for keeping your skin moisturized and nurtured, see if you could do without them for the period you are in this diet.

Along with the diet, you are put on a limited use of HCG Drops for odd cycles of 23 and 46 days, which is to be administered on a regular basis, you need to contact your physician immediately to ask what to do in case a single dosage is missed. It is not advisable to double up on the dosage on the next day, so contact the experts.

The whole thing could last up to weeks till there is a reset in your metabolism rate; this will help you keep the weight off in the long run. Exercise for the period in which you are on HCG Drops is also forbidden or limited till you feel you are okay with the routine and not feeling scarcity of energy to continue your daily work.

People on this diet have claimed to lose 10 to 14 lbs. per week. Celebrities have been opting for this method to get back in shape, which is why this diet gained overnight popularity in the first place. Whether it works for you or not, there is no certain way to determine that.

Where To Buy HCG Diet Drops

If you want to buy HCG Drops with the poor results in the studies and horrible side effects, then there is a great selection of names with strange customer reviews on Amazon.

But…the Human chorionic gonadotropin – substance which gives the name of this supplement (HCG) is completely missing from the list of active ingredients.

About Jenni Jacobsen

Jenni Jacobsen graduated from The Ohio State University in June 2011 with her bachelor's degree in psychology and in May 2015 with her master's degree in social work. Throughout her college career, she took English courses, worked as a freelance writer, and assisted other students in writing papers.

Jenni Jacobsen recently began pursuing a Ph.D. in psychology through Northcentral University and is becoming a subject-matter expert in the area of addiction. More about me Full Bio.